My legs carried me forward on their own, anywhere my eyes could see. I couldn't calm down, couldn't pull myself together.
"What the hell happened…" I breathed out.
The last thing I remembered was lying in a hospital bed. And then… I opened my eyes and found myself in the middle of some nightmare. I was literally lying on someone's remains, in a body that wasn't mine. When I woke up, strange memories rushed through my head. It wasn't my life.
I was a recruit in a special task force created to fight the infected. After the threat of the new parasite became real, the creation of such units was more of a way to calm the public than an actual solution. Still, we were a fully armed formation, though all its members came from different backgrounds some police, some SWAT, some military.
The Helix Laboratory was one of the sites in the Cordyceps research program. When a distress signal came from there, our team was sent in for a cleanup. We expected to encounter infected, but not… that. It was like we were lured inside, and then they surrounded us from every side. We fought our way through, but there was no escape.
The squad was almost completely wiped out. We held the line until the last moment, shooting back until the formation broke. Everything turned into chaos screams, blood, flashes of gunfire, and then darkness.
I remember three infected attacking me at once. Their nails tore through my uniform, their teeth sank into my flesh. The last thing I felt was unbearable pain and something scratching at my mind.
Those were the final moments of Victor. And then I woke up in his body, not understanding where the hell I was or how I was even alive. My clothes were torn, my body scarred, but the wounds had already healed, as if months had passed.
After escaping that damned laboratory, I nearly collapsed from exhaustion. I just wanted to get as far away as possible. Reaching the edge of the forest, I finally stopped by a tree, ripped off the gas mask, and exhaled heavily, gasping for air and trying to steady my breath.
I hadn't run like that in ages. Guess I'm getting old would've dropped dead from exhaustion by now.
Checking my body, I realized the wounds were gone. Only thin, pale scars remained, like traces of old burns. I must have been unconscious for just a few hours. We entered the building late at night. Now it was almost noon. At least twelve hours had passed.
"Damn! what are you even thinking?" I muttered. "Look at the shit you've landed in."
And then it hit me.
Cordyceps fungus. I remembered there was a game called The Last of Us. Funny, I never actually played it. Only watched reviews and summaries. Work always got in the way. Never thought I'd live to regret that.
The world is collapsing. People are desperate to find salvation a vaccine. But all efforts are still failing. There's no hope left. Fewer and fewer still believe in one. Bands of raiders attack travelers, sometimes using them as food. Military zones turn into near-slave camps. Hordes of infected sweep across territories under the parasite's control. That's the bright future waiting for me.
Finally catching my breath, I tried to remember where I was. The Helix Lab was only ten kilometers from the nearest town. Maybe there were small settlements nearby I couldn't recall exactly. But heading there would be safer than walking into a major city. After the outbreak, cities were nothing but chaos. I needed time. Time to recover and figure out what the hell to do next.
Our unit's base was located on the outskirts of the city. We trained there, ran simulations, conducted combat drills. It served as a kind of buffer zone far from prying eyes, but close enough to respond quickly when needed.
I kept catching myself thinking that I couldn't separate my own memories from Victor's. He was born and raised here. His parents were immigrants who came looking for a better life. Victor chose the military path. He wanted to serve, to protect and, truth be told, he was damn good at it. That's why he was chosen for the task force dealing with infection outbreaks.
Those units were created during the early stages of the epidemic small, mobile squads. There weren't many of them, but the government believed they were enough to contain the infection. How wrong they were.
The first outbreak appeared in Texas, and day by day it spread across the country until it consumed every state. It didn't even take a week.
After checking my gear, I stood up, deciding to head for the base. My gaze lingered for a moment on the scars beneath the fabric of my uniform. Real mystery. But the real question was how the hell I ended up here in the first place.
I had to walk nearly six miles. I was tired, but the body held up. It was trained, built to endure far worse.
Base "Worker-4." Once, it used to be a prison. Later it was converted into a military site. When the authorities decided it was too dangerous to keep inmates that close to the city, part of it was demolished, and the rest was handed over to the special forces. There were shooting ranges, armories, training fields, obstacle courses everything needed to prepare soldiers of all levels.
*image*
As I got closer, I noticed how unnaturally quiet it was. Usually this place was full of noise shouted orders, gunfire, the hum of constant activity.
A lone guard stood by the gate. He spotted me almost instantly and, without hesitation, raised his rifle.
"Stop! Who goes there?" he shouted.
I lifted my hands.
"It's me… Victor," I said, my throat dry and voice cracking.
He didn't lower his weapon. Maybe my face was covered in dirt and dried blood. Or maybe he simply couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Victor?" His voice trembled with disbelief.
From Victor's memories, I recognized him James, one of the base guards. He usually worked shifts at the perimeter.
"What the hell happened at the lab?" James yelled, still keeping the rifle aimed at me. "We lost all contact with your team!"
"We were ambushed," I exhaled. "Not many survived. I don't know where the others are... I made it here on foot."
James froze for a moment, then grabbed his radio.
"Base, this is Checkpoint One one of Captain Norton's squad just showed up."
"Any signs of infection?" came the voice of Colonel Simmons, the base commander. He had led this facility for over a decade a man of steel, used to keeping order no matter what.
"No, sir," James replied. "He seems lucid. Just filthy and exhausted."
"Bring him to me," Simmons ordered curtly. "I want a full report on Helix."
"Yes, sir," James acknowledged and motioned for me to follow.
We went inside. The base felt eerily empty. The motor pool was deserted not a single vehicle in sight. Normally there would be transports for the training squads, armored trucks, unmarked tactical vehicles. Now, silence.
*image*
This base had served as a training center for special units. Soldiers came here to prepare for deployment in hot zones clearing infected areas, storming seized buildings, apprehending high-value targets. So besides our own team, many others had been stationed and trained here.